A handwritten or printed document, comprising at least 25 leaves of paper, vellum, or parchment bound together along one edge, generally affixed within a protective cover, and usually intended for non-periodical publication. The earliest books can be traced back to China in the 3rd-c BC, in the form of wood or bamboo leaves bound with cords. In the West the papyrus roll used by the Egyptians and Greeks was superseded in Greece and Rome by the codex (bound, handwritten leaves of vellum or parchment). Superbly written and illuminated manuscript books were made in the monasteries of W Europe from the Dark Ages until well after the development of European printing in c.1450.
The earliest known printed book is Chinese (868). All the world's printed books before the 15th-c were Chinese, Korean, or Japanese; and between 1450 and 1750 Chinese printed books exceeded those of the rest of the world. In Europe, printing, along with the introduction of paper in the 14th-c, led to a very large increase in book production. Books from this period, known as incunabula, number some 35 000. The earliest printed books, such as Gutenberg's 42-line Bible of 1456, were set in black-letter type and closely modelled on the design of mediaeval manuscript books. New features, such as title-pages and page numbers, began to appear towards the end of the 15th-c. Aldus Manutius, working in Venice, introduced a revolution in book production in 1501: pocket-size editions of Latin classics set in compact italic types in print-runs as long as 1000 copies. Following the Reformation, censorship became increasingly repressive: the mid-16th-c saw the publication of the Index of prohibited books, and in England a royal charter giving the Stationers' Company a virtual monopoly over who might print what. The first book printed in America was the Whole Booke of Psalmes (Bay Psalm Book) in 1640. The 19th-c brought many technical innovations, such as mechanical typesetting and cheaper paper, and several changes in retailing and use, following the mushroom growth of railway bookstalls and the development of public libraries. With the 20th-c came the heyday of the private press movement, the steady development of book clubs, new techniques in printing, and a notable growth in the numbers of new titles published, particularly in paperback.
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A book is a collection of paper, parchment or other material with a piece of text written on them, bound together along one edge, usually within covers. Each side of a sheet is called a page and a single sheet within a book may be called a leaf. A book is also a literary work or a main division of such a work. A book produced in electronic format is known as an e-book.
In library and information science, a book is called a monograph to distinguish it from serial publications such as magazines, journals or newspapers.
A lover of books is usually referred to as a bibliophile, a bibliophilist, or a philobiblist, or, more informally, a bookworm.
A book may be studied by students in the form of a book report. It may also be covered by a professional writer as a book review to introduce a new book. Some belong to a book club.
History of books
Antiquity
The oral account (word of mouth, tradition, hearsay) is the oldest carrier of messages and stories.
Scroll
In Ancient Egypt, papyrus (a form of paper made from the stems of the papyrus plant) was used for writing maybe as early as from First Dynasty, but first evidence is from the account books of King Neferirkare Kakai of the Fifth Dynasty (about 2400 BC). According to Herodotus (History 5:58) the Phoenicians brought writing and also papyrus to Greece around tenth or ninth century BC and so the Greek word for papyrus as writing material (biblion) and book (biblos) come from the Phoenician port town Byblos through which most of the papyrus was exported to Greece. The custom of binding several wax tablets together (Roman pugillares) is a possible precursor for modern books (i.e. At the end of the century we have the first written mention of the codex as a form of book from Martial in his Apophoreta CLXXXIV, where he praises its compactness. This gradual change happened during the third and fourth centuries and the reasons for adopting the codex form of the book are several: the codex format is more economical as both sides of the writing material can be used, it is easy to conceal, portable and searchable.
In the 7th century Isidore of Seville explains the relation between codex, book and scroll in his Etymologiae (VI.13) as this:
A codex is composed of many books; a book is of one scroll. It is called codex by way of metaphor from the trunks (codex) of trees or vines, as if it were a wooden stock, because it contains in itself a multitude of books, as it were of branches.In Western Roman Empire mainly monasteries carried on the latin writing tradition, because first Cassiodorus in the monastery of Vivarium (established around 540) stressed the importance of copying texts, and later also St. Benedict of Nursia, in his Regula Monachorum (completed around the middle of the 6th century) promoted reading. XLVIII), which set aside certain times for reading, greatly influenced the monastic culture of the Middle Ages, and is one of the reasons why the clergy were the predominant readers of books. At first the tradition and style of the Roman Empire still dominated and only slowly the peculiar medieval book culture emerged.
Before the invention and adoption of the printing press, almost all books were copied by hand, which made books expensive and comparatively rare. Smaller monasteries had usually only some dozen books, medium sized a couple hundred. Only after that the book was bound by the bookbinder.
There were four types of scribes:
Copyists, who dealt with basic production and correspondence Calligraphers, who dealt in fine book production Correctors, who collated and compared a finished book with the manuscript from which it had been produced Rubricators, who painted in the red letters;The first books used parchment or vellum (calf skin) for the pages. The book covers were made of wood and covered with leather. As dried parchment tends to assume the form before processing, the books were fitted with clasps or straps. During later Middle Ages, when public libraries appeared, books were often chained to a bookshelf or a desk to prevent theft.
At first books were copied mostly in monasteries, one at a time. With the rise of universities in the 13th century, the demand for books increased and a new system for copying books appeared. The books were divided into unbound leaves (pecia), which were lent out to different copyists, so the book production speed was considerably increased.
Block printing and incunables
In the early 14th century, block printing arrived in Western Europe (the technique had been developed in the East centuries earlier). Books, as well as playing cards and religious pictures, began to be produced by block printing. Creating an entire book, however, was a painstaking process, requiring a hand-carved block for each page.
The oldest dated book printed with this method is The Diamond Sutra.
It was not until Johann Gutenberg popularized the printing press with metal movable type in the 15th century that books started to be comparatively affordable (although still quite expensive for most people) and more widely available. This upset the status quo, leading to remarks such as "The printing press will allow books to get into the hands of people who have no business reading books." It is estimated that in Europe about 1,000 various books were created per year before the development of the printing press.
Printed books, single sheets and images which were created before the year 1501 in Europe are known as incunabula, sometimes anglicized to incunables.
Paper
Though papermaking in Europe begun around 11th century, up until the beginning of 16th century vellum and paper were produced congruent to one another, vellum being the more expensive and durable option.
Modern world
With the rise of printing in the fifteenth century, books were published in limited numbers and were quite valuable. Common bookmarks in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were narrow silk ribbons bound into the book at the top of the spine and extended below the lower edge of the page.
The centuries after the 15th century were thus spent on improving both the printing press and the conditions for freedom of the press through the gradual relaxation of restrictive censorship laws. In mid-20th century, Europe book production had risen to over 200,000 titles per year.
Structure of books
Depending on a book's purpose or type (e.g. Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Textbook, Monograph), its structure varies, but some common structural parts of a book usually are:
Book cover (hard or soft, shows title and author of book, sometimes with illustration) Title page (shows title and author, often with small illustration or icon) Metrics page Dedication (may or may not be included) Table of contents Preface Text of contents of the book IndexConservation issues
In the early-19th century, papers made from pulp (cellulose, wood) were introduced because it was cheaper than cloth-based papers (linen or abaca). Pulp based paper made cheap novels, cheap school text books and cheap books of all kinds available to the general public. Books printed between 1850 and 1950 are at risk; more recent books are often printed on acid-free or alkaline paper.
The proper care of books takes into account the possibility of chemical changes to the cover and text. Books are best stored in reduced lighting, definitely out of direct sunlight, at cool temperatures, and at moderate humidity. Books, especially heavy ones, need the support of surrounding volumes to maintain their shape. It is desirable for that reason to group books by size.
Collections of books
Private or personal libraries made up of non-fiction and fiction books, (as opposed to the state or institutional records kept in archives) first appeared in classical Greece. Typically not the whole collection was available to public, the books could not be borrowed and often were chained to reading stands to prevent theft.
The beginning of modern public library begins around 15th century when individuals started to donate books to towns. This reflected classes in a society: The poor or the middle class had to access most books through a public library or by other means while the rich could afford to have a private library built in their homes.
The advent of paperback books in the 20th century led to an explosion of popular publishing. Paperback books made owning books affordable for many people. Paperback books often included works from genres that had previously been published mostly in pulp magazines. As a result of the low cost of such books and the spread of bookstores filled with them (in addition to the creation of a smaller market of extremely cheap used paperbacks) owning a private library ceased to be a status symbol for the rich.
While a small collection of books, or one to be used by a small number of people, can be stored in any way convenient to the owners, including a standard bookcase, a large or public collection requires a catalogue and some means of consulting it. Often codes or other marks have to be added to the books to speed the process of relating them to the catalogue and their correct shelf position. The call number is placed inside the book and on the spine of the book, normally a short distance before the bottom, in accordance with institutional or national standards such as ANSI/NISO Z39.41 - 1997. This short (7 pages) standard also establishes the correct way to place information (such as the title or the name of the author) on book spines and on "shelvable" book-like objects such as containers for DVDs, video tapes and software.
In library and booksellers' catalogues, it is common to include an abbreviation such as "Crown 8vo" to indicate the paper size from which the book is made.
When rows of books are lined on a bookshelf, bookends are sometimes needed to keep them from slanting.
Keeping track of books
One of the earliest and most widely known systems of cataloguing books is the Dewey Decimal System.
For the entire 20th century most librarians concerned with offering proper library services to the public (or a smaller subset such as students) worried about keeping track of the books being added yearly to the Gutenberg Galaxy. Through a global society called the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) they devised a series of tools such as the International Standard Book Description or ISBD.
Besides, each book is specified by an International Standard Book Number, or ISBN, which is unique to every edition of every book produced by participating publishers, world wide. The EAN Barcodes numbers for books are derived from the ISBN by prefixing 978, for Bookland and calculating a new check digit. They often produce books which do not have ISBNs. In certain industrialized countries large classes of commercial books, such as novels, textbooks and other non-fiction books, are nearly always given ISBNs by publishers, thus giving the illusion to many customers that the ISBN is an international and complete system, with no exceptions.
Transition to digital format
The term e-book (electronic book) in the broad sense is an amount of information like a conventional book, but in digital form.
Throughout the 20th century, libraries have faced an ever-increasing rate of publishing, sometimes called an information explosion. The advent of electronic publishing and the Internet means that much new information is not printed in paper books, but is made available online through a digital library, on CD-ROM, or in the form of e-books.
On the other hand, though books are nowadays produced using a digital version of the content, for most books such a version is not available to the public (i.e. There is an effort, however, to convert books that are in the public domain into a digital medium for unlimited redistribution and infinite availability.
There have also been new developments in the process of publishing books.
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